One of the top interior prospects in the Class of 2016 announced Thursday night that he’s narrowed his recruiting focus down to five schools. Schnider Herard, who attends Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas, announced via Twitter that Kansas, California, Mississippi State, Purdue and Texas Tech are the five schools he’s still considering at this time.
Herard cut his list to ten schools in early August, and at the same time it was reported that he’d set up an official visit to Mississippi State for the second weekend of September. According to Scout.com Herard has lined up officials to Texas Tech (beginning September 25) and Kansas (October 11) as well. While California and Purdue don’t have scheduled official visits with Herard just yet, both programs have some personnel issues to account for in the front court in the 2016 recruiting class.
The Boilermakers will lose senior center A.J. Hammons at the end of the season, and while Cal doesn’t have a scholarship senior in its front court rotation they do have to consider the possibility of highly regarded freshman Ivan Rabb spending just one year in school.
As for Kansas, the Jayhawks will lose multiple seniors from its front court rotation and freshman Cheick Diallo has yet to be cleared for the upcoming campaign. While that may not impact 2016, the fact that no decision has been made on him is something the staff has to consider in its recruiting.
Mississippi State has one scholarship senior in its front court rotation (Gavin Ware), but they’re in a position where they need another interior body moving forward. Texas Tech doesn’t have a senior in its front court rotation, but 2015 signee Shawntrez Davis not qualifying academically puts them in a spot where they’ll need another body to call upon in the post.